28 July 2010

2. Car bumps: took my car to get an alignment, turns out the passenger side "boot" is leaking fluids and such, need a new front axle. A whopping $345 to fix it. Justin backed out of the driveway this morning, a few seconds later our across the street neighbor backed out and into his car. The passenger side door and front panel are dented. The insurance company will most likely total it, do you really need the door, hun? Getting a new car is very tempting. The allure of no car payment has a stronger appeal to me.

3. County Fair bumps: drove the bumpy dirt road to visit the animals this morning. We took along a picnic lunch and enjoyed some time with Justin at the fairgrounds. Amelia was a little shy of the animals except for the bunnies. She is convinced that I am buying her a pee-pee bunny. Don't ask. It was hot outside but the sheds were well ventilated. My favorite animals were the crazy looking chickens and a goat that looked like a cute doggy. The pig, horse, and textile sheds were closed so we were in and out. Alison and 6 kids drove up as we packed up. We unpacked and went again. Amelia was much more adventurous with Ella and Dani showing her how to interact with animals. She cannot wait for this evening to ride the Ferris Wheel. Her pose above is her showing me the Ferris Wheel Vanna style.

4. Horse bumps: I got up at 5:30 am to ride horses with Maleia and Alison on Tuesday. The best was trotting and getting a feel for Red Man's gait. It was wonderful to enjoy the fresh dewy air, watch the dogs frolic, feel the horse moving along, talking, and learning. Thanks girls for letting me pretend for an hour!

This is not a bump, but Amelia is enjoying doing "homework" with me everyday. I found some pre-K workbooks we are working through together. She loves to make "A" for Amelia the best of all. After a couple days she can almost draw an "A" by herself. She can identify about 80% of the alphabet and 50% of her numbers. I am excited to work with her at an educational level.

One month left until Phillip turns one year old. I want to hit pause at this stage for a while longer. He is happier crawling around and still snugly. Phillip is trying so hard to talk. He will mimic syllables that sound nearly like the word, at least to us. In just four weeks he learned how to crawl, stand up on furniture, say 4 new words, play peek-a-boo, and fall in love with flap books. This kid loves books. He crawls into his room just to play with books. So far he loves: Baby Elmo, DK Peek-a-Boo Animals, Goodnight Animals, and the Little Feet book. He is a hard baby to change into clothes and diapers. We've had many sessions trying to teach him to stay still for 1 minute. He is getting better.

Phillip's words include: peek-a-boo, oh boy, uh-oh, bye, ruff-ruff, grrrrr, hi, all done, and ah-ia (amelia) plus the normal vowel sounds like ma-ma and da-da. He eats regular table food cut into finger sized bits. I only occasionally puree his food when we have a meal with ingredients difficult to separate. My floors are swept about twice a day now or else he will vacuum for me. Just last week he started trying to dance to rhythms. What a hilarious sight! He loves music like Amelia. My guess is he weighs about 18 lbs right now. Not too chubby but not too skinny, just right! He makes me want to have about 10 more babies. Such a delight. I love when Amelia and Phillip make each other laugh. It is about the closest to heaven on earth I get.